Typhoon Koinu airport chaos: Hong Kong authorities pledge to improve transport arrangements in extreme weather after train service halt leaves thousands stranded
- Thousands of air arrivals stranded on Sunday night as express services into city centre suspended upon sudden No 9 storm alert
- Taxi wait time at airport at one point exceeded five hours, while some passengers complain of overcharging by cab drivers
Hong Kong authorities have pledged to improve transport arrangements in extreme weather after thousands of rail and air passengers were left stranded on Sunday when some train services were halted as Typhoon Koinu lashed the city.
“The government will continue to maintain close communications with the various public transport operators to study how to improve information dissemination and contingency arrangements,” a spokesman for the Transport and Logistics Bureau said on Monday.
The Airport Authority also said it would work out arrangements for limited express rail services in extreme weather.
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Typhoon Koinu triggers chaos at Hong Kong airport
Thousands of travellers and MTR passengers were forced to book hotel rooms, bed on site or wait for hours for taxis to get home on Sunday evening, when the rail operator suspended some services, including the Airport Express, minutes after the Observatory raised the No 9 typhoon alert.
Steven Yiu Siu-chung, the Airport Authority’s operations executive director, said 83 flights – bringing in 16,000 passengers – had landed in the city between 7pm and midnight on Sunday.